Tit-for-tat: Iran organises demo outside Italian embassy

Iran Focus: Tehran/London, Nov. 03 – Iran hastily organised a demonstration outside the Italian embassy in Tehran on the same day that top Italian lawmakers from both government and opposition parties are lining up outside the Iranian embassy in Rome to condemn “incendiary” remarks by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who said last week that “Israel must be wiped off the map”. Iran Focus

Tehran/London, Nov. 03 – Iran hastily organised a demonstration outside the Italian embassy in Tehran on the same day that top Italian lawmakers from both government and opposition parties are lining up outside the Iranian embassy in Rome to condemn “incendiary” remarks by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who said last week that “Israel must be wiped off the map”.

On Wednesday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned Italy’s ambassador Roberto Toscano to protest the Italian initiative against Ahmadinejad’s threats as well as comments by Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini, who told reporters on Tuesday that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) should refer Iran’s nuclear dossier to the United Nations Security Council.

Italian Reforms Minister Roberto Calderoli said that Rome should counteract by recalling its ambassador from Tehran.

Several hundred hard-liners took part in the demonstration in Tehran, which was organised by the para-military Bassij movement, an off-shoot of the Revolutionary Guards.

They chanted slogans and lifted banners condemning the state of Israel and Italy’s support for the Jewish state.

The demonstration in Rome, organised by the conservative Italian broadsheet, Il Foglio, is scheduled for later this evening, when there will also be a candle-lit vigil. Among the powerful lawmakers who have announced their participation at the Rome rally are Foreign Minister Fini; European Union Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner, Franco Frattini; and Piero Fassino, who heads Italy’s largest opposition party.

On Wednesday, several thousand people gathered outside the Iranian embassy in Paris to condemn the Iranian president’s threats. Several dozen Iranian opposition activists joined in the protest, saying that Ahmadinejad was speaking for the minority ruling clique in Iran and not the Iranian people.